The suite spot

A lot of people go to a bar to get away from it all. But at one new hotel bar, that’s not going to be so easy: After all, the Secret Service may be watching you.

Welcome to the newest hotel in town: the W Washington, D.C., formerly known as the Hotel Washington, which sits across the street from the Treasury Department and the White House. The W is putting the final touches on an 18-month, $100 million renovation project all in the hopes of making the hotel Washington’s premier spot to do everything from spend a night and get a facial to grab a drink and enjoy a meal. The hotel opens in July.

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In Washington, there are rooms with a view, and then there are these rooms with a view. Suites, rooms, bars and restaurants provide a close-up view of both the White House and the Washington Monument — as well as other monuments in the distance. With scenery like this, the hotel is well-positioned to be the power spot to beat all power spots — for politicos and celebrities alike.

It hasn’t been easy, however. “There’s no way that, in today’s world, this type of hotel could have been built this close to the White House,” said Bruce Sorensen, director of sales and marketing at the hotel. “Secret Service just wouldn’t allow it.”

The new W, which is managed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., was helped by the fact that a hotel had already existed on the property, giving it an upper hand against city zoning laws that are ultrasensitive about the real estate surrounding the White House.

“We had to work closely with Secret Service in order to make sure that they were comfortable and we were able to provide customers with an unmatched view of the city,” said the hotel’s general manager, Ed Baten, who added that, although the Secret Service won’t be a regular presence in the hotel, there is plenty of surveillance to keep them happy.

The best view can be found at the hotel’s aptly named Point of View rooftop bar and terrace, which can hold slightly more than 100 people at any given time.

“It’s the best view to be had in D.C.,” said Sorensen. And although you’re welcome and encouraged to take a picture or two, you ought to know: Should the paparazzi in you, say, choose to show up with a powerful zoom lens in order to get a closer look at the Obamas inside the White House’s East Wing, “Secret Service will probably be talking to you in just a few seconds,” Baten joked (sort of). That said, the rooftop terrace will provide a great view of the Obama girls’ playground and the president’s helicopters taking off and landing in the winter, when the leaves on obstructing trees are no longer there.

Of course, there’s one other area hotel — the Hay-Adams — that might disagree with the W’s claim of D.C.’s best view of the White House: The Hay has its own impressive rooftop view, looking south, of the White House and the Washington Monument. Its website boasts that the Hay-Adams is “as close as anyone can get to staying at the White House, short of being invited by the president.”